Who We Are

At Draper, we believe exciting things happen when new capabilities are imagined and created.

Whether formulating a concept and developing each component to achieve a field-ready prototype or combining existing technologies in new ways, Draper engineers apply multidisciplinary approaches that deliver new capabilities to customers.

As a not-for-profit research and development company, Draper focuses on the design, development and deployment of advanced technological solutions for the world’s most challenging and important problems.

We provide engineering services directly to government, industry, and academia; work on teams as prime contractor or subcontractor; and participate as a collaborator in consortia. We provide unbiased assessments of technology or systems designed or recommended by other organizations — custom designed, as well as commercial-off-the-shelf.

Draper is a recognized world leader in both Positioning, Navigation & Timing and Microsystems, with additional expertise in Precision Instrumentation, Fault-Tolerant Systems, Secure & Assured Systems, Autonomous Systems, Image & Data Analytics, Human-Centered Solutions, Materials Engineering & Microfabrication, and Biomedical Solutions. With a strong commitment to deliver working solutions, we apply ourselves to a variety of domains from space to undersea—and many areas in between.

We build working prototypes for field testing, accelerating design iterations; and we complete small production runs. We work with commercial partners to transition our technology to commercial large-volume production, including licensing intellectual property, and provide life-cycle support, including technology refresh.

Dr. Kaigham (Ken) J. Gabriel

President & CEO

Ken was most recently the deputy director of the Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group at Google, which he helped establish when he joined the organization in 2012 as Corporate Vice President at Google/Motorola Mobility. From 2009 to 2012, Ken was the Deputy Director, and then Acting Director, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the Department of Defense where he led an agency with an annual budget of $3B that is charged with managing the Department’s portfolio of its most cutting-edge projects to both create and avoid technology surprises.

Officers of the Corporation

John R. Dowdle

Vice President for Engineering

Elizabeth Mora

Chief Administrative Officer

Steven J. DiTullio

Vice President for Strategic Systems

Darryl G. Sargent

Vice President for National Security & Space Systems

Melinda J. Brown

Secretary and General Counsel

Tara S. Clark

Vice President for Commercial

Board of Directors

Draper’s primary governing body is our Board of Directors. They are elected by our Members of the Corporation, who serve as the non-profit equivalent of stockholders, providing continuity and insight to our Directors. Draper senior management serve as Officers of the Corporation and oversee Draper's day-to-day operations.